Fire Emblem: Outrealmer
by ManyWays
Summary: After living for a year of peace, the former soldier had had enough. So he traveled to a new world to search for what he did best. Unfortunately for him, things don't always go as planned. OC
1. Chapter 1: Whole new world

**Greetings! Welcome to my first fanfiction ever. But before you read, there is something you need to know.**

 **This is kind of an experimental fanfiction (aka I have no idea what am I doing). After reading other OCs, I wondered what makes them enjoyable to read. Is it because they are funny? Is it because they are relatable? Or is it something else? So I decided to write one myself and remove most of their elements. For example, my OC isn't from our modern world but a medieval-like fictional world, he doesn't know ANYTHING about this world and he actually has fighting experiences.**

 **So does it make it a bad OC story? Well, that's for you to decide. But I wish to know about your opinions and even better, advice. Now sit back and enjoy, I hope.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.**

* * *

 _ **Oh Magnus, what have you got yourself into?**_

I ran across the burnt crop field, sweating profusely down my black hair and onto my steel plate armor. Arrows were flying past from behind, and some managed to hit my steel heater shield on my back. I looked back, only to find those dark creatures were still chasing me. They had been chasing me ever since I've arrived.

 _ **And why the hell are they so obsessed with me?!**_

I looked forward again, and a large town was in front of me. It seemed to be abandoned: the streets were empty, the buildings were either collapsed or damaged and there was no sound save for my heavy breathing and those things cursing behind me.

 _ **I better lose them here. Fast!**_

As soon as I arrived on the street, I took a sharp turn into a nearby alley. They tried to follow, but I immediately took other turns and occasionally scaled a few walls to keep the distance. It was painful but after a while, I managed to lose them temporally. So I dashed into an empty building to hide.

Just after I closed the door, I heard many footsteps moving closer and closer to the house. I held my breath and waited, with a hand clamping on my sword. Fortunately, they didn't seem to notice me and started to move away from the building after a while.

Exhausted, I sat down on the floor and let out a sigh of relief. Despite being chased for about half an hour, I still had absolutely no idea what was going on.

 _ **Bloody hell! How did all this happen?**_

* * *

 **Half an hour earlier...**

"So, can it REALLY take me to wherever I want?" I asked as I looked her in disbelief.

"Of course! The Outrealm Gate connects with many different worlds, so you can use it to go wherever you want." The red-haired girl cheerfully replied.

I was quite skeptical about this because the gate looked very...ordinary. It was merely made of gray stone blocks with two large doors in the center. The doors were slightly opened, revealing a glowing blue light. If it weren't for that, I would think it was just another average city gate...in the middle of an island.

Still, it did fit the description. So I cast aside my doubts and responded, "Very well. I want to travel to an entirely new world that has no connection with this one." I briefly paused as I remembered something, "Also, it needs to be in some kind of war. I don't care what the conflict is about or who is involved. All I need is a war that needs people to fight."

She seemed to be a bit confused, "Why do you want to go to a war-torn world? Wouldn't it be better to visit a peaceful world like this one?"

I chuckled before answering, "That's none of your concern. Besides, I think you will find the payment is...sufficient."

I dropped the heavy sack to the ground. It made a large clinking sound before opened widely, revealing all of my life savings inside.

 _ **I won't need the gold anyway.**_

Her eyes widened and brightened at first. But she quickly returned to normal.

"Well... I don't think that's enough..."

 _ **This woman...**_

"What?!" I shouted, "But that's all I've got! What more do you want?" I clenched my fists and moved towards her, ready to literally knock some sense into her.

She noticed and tried to calm me down, "Whoa, calm down mister! It doesn't have to be money. I just need more valuable items." She pointed at the sword on my back, "That sword would do."

"Oh, this one?" I loosened my fists a bit and looked back at my sword. It was a two-handed fuller long-sword with the upper guard wider than the lower one. It used to be just a regular sword, but I modified it with a unique feature which has proved to be very useful in many battles ever since.

Without a hesitation, I pulled out the sword and pointed it at her throat, "Not a chance, woman! You either take the gold or leave it. Your choice."

She narrowed her eyes, staring at me with disbelief, "You're driving a hard bargain, mister." Then we started to stare at each other, trying to force the other to comply. While she had quite a fearsome glare, I had seen far worse than that. It took a while but eventually, she realized this wasn't going to work.

"Fine!" She exclaimed and threw up her hands, "But you don't get to choose."

Satisfied, I put back my sword, "As long as it meets those conditions, then it's good enough for me." But for some reason, a strange feeling appeared almost immediately after I said that.

 _ **Odd...I got a feeling that I'm going to regret this.**_

Despite that, there was no other reason to back down. So I followed her to the gate. She walked to the side of it and started to fiddle with some buttons and switches. The glowing blue light flickered and eventually changed into a bright red color.

"Alright," She said and signaled me to come forward, "Just step inside and you'll be in a brand new world."

I slowly walked towards the gate, taking a deep breath when I was just a few steps in front of it.

 _ **This is it. A whole new life.**_

As I went through the gate, I could hear her muttered about something. Had I realized what she was saying, I wouldn't be in this messy situation.

"Idiot."

* * *

 _ **Well, no way I can turn back now.**_

I sighed heavily as that thought occurred to me. While it seemed possible to use the gate again, I highly doubt that bloody woman would ever allow it. Even if she did, those creatures outside would surely tear me apart before I could reach it. So in other words, I was stuck.

 _ **Oh well, might as well figure out where I am before doing anything else.**_

Slowly, I stood up and searched the place quietly. It appeared to be a bookshop once as there were a number of empty bookshelves on the side of the walls. Books were scattered around the floor, either torn or burnt. While I didn't find anything useful in the books, there were hints about something: a young prince who led a group of soldiers into numerous battles and fought an unspeakable evil. It was interesting, but I had no time for fiction right now. Finally, I found something useful in one of the drawers: a map.

The map was old but still readable. The front side had two continents with small islands around them. The left one was labeled 'Valm' and there were three countries on the right one: 'Ylisse' in the southeastern part, 'Ferox' in the northern part and 'Plegia' in the southwest part.

 _ **Hmm, so this is the world I'm in…well, that's not going to help.**_

I groaned and turned the map over. The other side was much better as it was a local map titled 'Ylisstol'.

 _ **Right, let's just assume this is where I am. But I still need a way to locate myself.**_

The solution was simple: climbed to the top and looked for directions. So I slowly made my way up to the roof without causing too much noise. Once I was up, I laid down the map and looked for any landmarks.

 _ **Let's see...the church is on the far left. The tall building is in the front...wait, is that a castle on the hill?**_

It was indeed a castle. It was surrounded by walls, with towers around it and a big metal gate at the center. Even though I couldn't see whether it was occupied or not from this distance, it gave me an idea nonetheless. So I sat down and planned my next move.

"On one hand, there might be thousands of those things in it and I would certainly die if that's the case," I muttered, "But on the other hand, I wouldn't last long if I stay here anyway." I looked at the castle again and sighed, "Besides, there might be some useful stuff in it."

So it was decided: I would go to the castle and hoped for the best. But naturally, it would be insane to go there right now. I looked at the sky to determine the time. The sky was red as fire, and the sun was creeping towards the distant mountains. There was a trick to find the time: I extended my right hand and bent my waist to make the palm facing me. I then put my hand between the mountains and the sun, making the sun behind my fingers. It was right between my middle and ring fingers so I had about 30 minutes before nightfall.

 _ **Good, I still got some time to prepare myself.**_

With that in mind, I slowly climbed back down to the ground floor and readied myself for the journey…


	2. Chapter 2: The castle

**Good news! You can now know more about my OC (yay?) and other cannon characters will start to appear. Speaking of which, if I accidentally made any of them OOC in the future, please let me know and I will try to keep them in character. Thanks.**

* * *

 _ ***Sigh* is it night time already?**_

I stopped sharpening my sword and started to pack up my stuff into my leather single strap backpack behind the shield. It contained all the necessary items that I would need in battles: bandages, sharpener, repair kit, a waterskin and some healing herbs.

I looked at the starry night sky through the window. It was as beautiful as the ones in my world but something was amiss...

 ** _Well…the pattern is completely different, and there aren't any constellations that I know. Finding directions is going to be a problem._**

Slowly, I opened the door and peeked around the sides. It was dead silent, and there weren't any dark creatures nearby. So I decided it was the best time to move out. Silently, I quickly moved towards the unknown castle...

* * *

It actually went better than I expected. Although I've encountered some of them several times, I always managed to avoid them and stayed out of their way. Though sometimes, I have to resist the urge to kill them to avoid causing any unwanted attention.

 _ **Once I know what I'm dealing with, I'm going to kill you all.**_

Eventually, I reached the castle on top of the hill. It was a typical castle and has indeed lost some glory of the past: plants were climbing the walls, few bricks were missing and the paint hasn't been renewed for quite some time. It didn't seem to be functional for a while as its portcullis started to rust and the ground wasn't disturbed.

 _ **So far so good, now let's begin.**_

I started to scale slowly up the wall. I used the cracks on the wall and arrow slits for climbing. The climbing plant also proved to be strong enough to hold my weight. It took a good while, but I finally reached the top of the wall and jumped down into a courtyard.

 _ **Now THAT wasn't as hard as I…**_

"INTRUDER!" Suddenly, a voice shouted at the top of a nearby tower. In a matter of seconds, the castle door burst open and soldiers with their spears circled me.

 _ **Strange, this must the first time I'm happy to see someone pointing weapons at me.**_

I raised my hands up and tried to explained, "Whoa, calm down! I'm not here to fight with you. I just want a safe place to stay!"

As I stood there for a while, I saw a girl came towards me. She had blue long hair and was probably in her late- teens. She was wearing blue clothes with a weird sword on her waist.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she asked.

So I started to introduce myself, "My name is Magnus Silver, former soldier. I come here to seek a safe place to stay in these...troubling times and I swear, I mean you no harm. " I kept my hands up to avoid any misunderstanding, "But enough about me, who am I talking to?"

"That's Princess Lucina to you!" A soldier shouted from the crowd.

 _ **Oh…okay…**_

Lucina raised her hand up to shut him up before continued to question me, "I'm surprised you haven't heard of me….anyway, you said you were a soldier once. Then which country did you served?"

 _ **I want to say I come from another world. But that's probably not the best idea.**_

I thought back what I have seen on the map, "I was a soldier of...Ferox."

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief, "Really? You don't look or sound like one."

So I made something up, "Listen, I wasn't born there. I fought with them just to earn some money. Besides, it was a long time ago and I prefer to wear this kind of armour."

She sized me up in silence. Eventually, she said, "You aren't a Risen, that's for sure…"

 _ **So that's what they are called…**_

"However, I can't just trust you because of that, and you did trespass my castle. So I have to keep you under watch."

"As long as you don't throw me on the street, then it's fine." I put my hands forward to let them tie me.

But before they could remove my sword, the guard shouted again, "RISEN! THEY ARE HERE!"

She immediately pulled her odd-looking sword out, "Gods! Everyone! Secure the courtyard! Don't let any of them get into the castle!"

Then they started to rush towards the walls and prepare to fight the climbing Risen.

"Er…what about me?" But no one seems to notice me.

I could just stand still and pray they could handle it. But judging from the soldier's stances, they appeared to be pretty inexperienced. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and tried to loosen my binding. The trouble was, they were quite experienced in tying people up.

 _ **I'm really glad they didn't take away my sword.**_

I reached behind my back and grabbed the lower grip of the sword. And here's what made my long-sword unique: there was a small button just below the second guard. When I press it, I can pull the lower grip out, revealing a short blade. Sure, I still need to put it back if I want to use the sword. But it came in handy when I'm needed to stab someone quick.

I quickly used the short blade to start cutting the binding. While I was doing that, I caught a glimpse of soldiers fighting desperately to hold off the Risen. But the princess was doing alright as she cut them up effortlessly.

 _ **Hmm…..so you CAN kill them like men.**_

Just when the bindings broke, I noticed a black figure creeping behind me. I turned my head around and immediately saw an axe moving straight to my face.

 _ **Bloody Hell!**_

I turned my back towards it and blocked the attack with my shield. Then I quickly turned around again to stab its neck with the blade. It let out a painful cry, turning into dark dust. As I put back my blade and pulled out my sword, I looked around the chaotic battleground: screams were everywhere, people started dying and the air was filled with the smell of blood. To an average person, it would be a traumatic experience that could scar them for life. But to me, it was like seeing an old friend again.

 _ **Ah…it's good to be back.**_

I put on my helmet and lunged towards two unsuspected Risen who were busy fighting other soldiers. I sliced open the back of the left one and thrust my sword into the side of the right one, killing both of them in a matter of seconds.

Other Risen have noticed me and started to charge at me.

 _ **Payback time.**_

I sidestepped a Risen and cut its head clean off. Another one tried to slash me with its axe but I blocked it with my sword and pushed it away, which gave me just enough time to dodge another axe. I then cut its neck after removing one of its legs. The remaining one charged towards me again and tried to slash my torso. But I jumped backward a bit and quickly impaled my sword between its eyes.

"How did you unbind yourself?!" I heard Lucina shouting from behind while holding off a sword-wielding Risen.

"I had ways," I replied before chopping another head off, "Besides, I think you need help."

She disposed of another Risen and warned me, "Just to be clear, I still don't trust you and if you tried to hurt my people, I would kill you."

I laughed as I parried another attack, "Well! Then you better not turn your back on me." She didn't seem to hear it and went back into fighting.

Just when I was starting to have fun, I felt a sudden strong heat on my back. I looked back and found my shield slightly burnt.

 _ **Whoa! What kind of sorcery is this?!**_

That was when I saw a Risen with a ridiculously large hat. Its left hand was holding a massive tome and flame began to appear on its right hand.

 _ **Wait…they can summon fire?!**_

I braced myself for another attack but instead of shooting fire from its hand, it came from above and engulfed the Risen.

 _ **Wow, what a stupid way to use fire…**_

"Stay focus!" a voice shouted from above.

I immediately looked up at the sky. There was a giant dark creature flying overhead, and it appeared that a person was sitting on it.

 _ **That's a REALLY big bird…and it breathes fire…wonderful.**_

"Gerome! Help Noire and Laurent to secure the gate!" Lucina shouted from afar. The flying man nodded and swiftly moved towards it.

Suddenly, a giant blue fireball flew past me and blasted off several Risen. I could see it came from yet another unknown creature with a shade of pink. It looked kind of similar to the previous one but with unusual colors.

 _ ***Sigh* what else? A flying horse?**_

"Evildoers, beware!"

I turned around to look where it came from, only to find a girl stabbed a Risen with a lance...on her flying horse. I was, even more, speechless when I noticed a giant rabbit was jumping all over the place and shouting "don't mess with a bunny!"

 _ **This is getting a bit weird…**_

*Clash*

My vision blurred as I fell on the ground, feeling dizzy. Apparently, a Risen managed to hit my helmet with its sword when I wasn't paying attention. It raised its sword, trying to finish me off but was stopped abruptly when it was sliced in half.

As my vision began to focus, I saw another girl with twin-tails. She scowled and yelled at me, "Ugh! Be careful, tin head!" Then she charged back into fighting.

 _ **…tin head?**_

"Hey, you! Get up!" Someone pulled me up with a large force. It was a rather heavily armoured girl with short hair. She gave me a disappointed look before charging forwards to pair up with another man, whose sword hand seems to be…shaking.

 _ **He must be quite nervous. Anyway, I need to get back into the fight…and enjoy every moment of it.**_

I picked up my sword and dashed towards the anarchic battlefield…


	3. Chapter 3: The new recruit

**Hello again. You may notice that this one took a longer time. Well, there are few reasons for that:**

 **a) This chapter was created from scratch while the previous ones were created a long time ago.**

 **b) I was trying to improve it (well, TRY to) but it is rather difficult when I don't know how to make it better. So advice and comments are much appreciated.  
**

 **c) I was rather busy lately. But I guess that's normal for a A2 student.**

 **Anyway, let's BEGIN.  
**

* * *

"*pant* is that *pant* all of them?" I threw my helmet on the ground and bent down, gasping desperately for breath. In the past, I could fight for hours without having too much problem. But now, I almost died of exhaustion in a 30-minute battle.

 ** _Bloody hell, I'm getting rusty...but man, how I've missed all of this.  
_**

I cracked a smile when I thought of that. The battle was over, we won, but with a great cost. I scanned around the place and examined the surroundings. Dead bodies could be seen everywhere and the wounded were lying down on the ground, moaning in agony. Strangely, I couldn't see any Risen bodies around and it made the conflict looked like a mutiny.

 ** _Geez, these soldiers weren't very well trained for this…_**

"You fought pretty well."

I looked back and saw it was that heavy armored girl. There wasn't any blood on her so I guessed she knew how to defend herself, unlike most of the soldiers.

"That wasn't my first battle," I replied, "But I must say, I could've been much better if I wasn't idle for a year." I groaned and straightened my back, "Anyway, enough about me, who am I talking to?"

"Kjelle, and you?"

"Magnus, nice to meet you." I reached out and shook her hand.

 ** _Ouch, she has a really strong handshake._**

After removing my slightly sore hand, I picked up my helmet and took my waterskin out from the bag. When I was taking a much-needed refreshment, I noticed she was still standing there, staring at me for some reason. It became increasingly uncomfortable.

"Can I…help you?" I stopped drinking and asked.

"I want to ask you a question." She replied.

"Okay," I put my waterskin back, "What do you want to know?"

"When we're fighting, I noticed you only relied on your longsword but not your shield. Why was that?"

"Oh, that." I remove the battered shield off my back and turned it over, "No handle."

As I expected, she was quite surprised, "Why would you carry a broken shield around?"

"Well, I only use it to protect my back as I never know how to use it correctly," I answered, "Besides, that bloody handle always hurt my back every time I fall on my back." I looked into her eyes and continued, "Every. Single. Time."

She crossed her arms, "It still doesn't seem practical to me."

"Believe me, if your back armor was as thin as mine, you would do the same as well." When we were talking, I caught a glimpse of a blue figure walking towards us. I turned around and saw it was that princess again, a bit tired but still holding up.

"Ah, princess Lucina, are you going to detain me again?" I asked.

She was silent for a moment, "That won't be necessary. I saw you fought quite bravely during the battle. You even risked your own life to save some of my soldiers. For that, you have my gratitude and my permission to stay,"

 ** _Honestly, I didn't RISK my life. Everything was under control but let's not argue with her._**

Her tone suddenly changed, "However, you are still a completely stranger to me. So don't expect me to fully trust you yet."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Fair enough. But I can ensure you the only things I want to kill are those bloody Risen. Yet put that aside, I want to discuss something with you."

"Oh, what is it?"

"I notice that you've lost quite a number of soldiers. So are you looking for replacements?" I asked.

She asked doubtfully, "You want to join us?"

"While I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, I doubt I could survive long just on my own. So joining an army doesn't sound so bad," I scanned around the place again, "Besides, you seem to need some extra help after this."

She didn't say anything for a while, trying to decide whether it would be wise to recruit someone who just appeared out of nowhere. But finally, she gave in when Kjelle spoke up, "Lucina, we do need more soldiers if we want to have a fighting chance."

"…very well. Magnus, you are now a Ylisse soldier. Welcome."

I bowed down slightly and swore, "My loyalty lies with you, princess Lucina."

"Please, just call me Lucina."

 ** _A royal who doesn't care about her title…interesting._**

"Come on," she turned towards the castle, "Let's get inside."

* * *

The castle wasn't a castle anymore. It was more like a refugee camp.

The corridor was filled with people, both civilians and soldiers. Families were packed in different spots, reassuring their children that 'everything is going to be okay' even if their faces were full of sadness. The wounded were carried quickly into different rooms for treating, sobbing and crying could be heard from those rooms. Yet despite all these hardships, I could still feel a sense of...hope within them. A wishful thought that tomorrow would be better. But I knew full well that it wouldn't last long.

 _ **Seems like I'm fighting a losing battle.  
**_

After walking through the packed corridor, we went into a room where a man was tending the wounded. He had a scar over his eye and carried a weird staff as he was treating the wounded.

 _ **Must be some kind of symbolic thing...**_

"Brady, how's the wounded?" Lucina asked.

He turned around and replied, "Not great. We'll need more healers if we keep losing people like this." He swung his staff around and the wounded seemed...better?

"I'm afraid you have to make do with the resources available for now," she sighed, "We couldn't find any more healers."

Brady groaned as he heard it, "Kinda hoping he was a new healer." He pointed at me.

"Well, no. I'm Magnus. The latest recruit to this army...or what's left of it." I looked around as I said that.

"New soldier, yeah? Guess we need all the help we can get." He then returned back to treat the patients.

"Ah, there you are, Lucina." A male voice suddenly appeared behind us.

It was a blue-haired man who seemed to be at a similar age with Lucina. He had a small shield on his left shoulder and his right eye looked...odd...but strangely familiar.

 _ **Where did I see it...oh...**_

"Inigo, what is it?" Lucina asked.

He smiled and answered, "Laurent said we can begin the meeting now. Everyone is there already." He then noticed me, standing a bit stiff behind Lucina, "By the way, who is he?"

I bowed down slightly, "My name is Magnus. Pleased to meet you, prince Inigo."

He was surprised and put his hands forward, "Whoa, no need to get all formal. Inigo would be fine."

"Oh...alright then."

 _ **Is there a custom of NOT using royal titles?**_

We stood there for a moment of awkward silence. Eventually, Kjelle spoke, "About time! Let's go to the meeting." She walked out the room, followed by Brady and Lucina. Inigo was about to leave when he saw me was still standing there, "Well, are you coming?"

"Am I allowed to?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't think anyone will mind. Besides, I want to introduce you to other members of this group."

"Very well then." So I followed him into the council room.

* * *

Once I entered the room, I was quickly introduced to other members: The man with glasses and a ridiculously large hat was Laurent, that girl with a flying horse was Cynthia, the one who called me 'tin-head' was Severa, twitching hand was prince...was Owain, the nervous bow girl was Noire and the weird-looking ones were Yarne, who looked like a furry animal, and Nah who had pointy ears.

"Okay, let's get right into it." Lucina quieted us down and said, "How were your searches?"

At first, no one replied, having looks of disappointment and defeat. But then Laurent began, "Our searches were...unsuccessful," He continued, "We were unable to locate the Fire Emblem and the Gemstone."

"My group wasn't so lucky as well," Nah suddenly said, "The Gemstones weren't there in the fort."

Inigo joined in, "We couldn't find them either. They weren't there as the rumor claimed..."

*Slap*

Lucina slapped her hand on the table, "Gods! They were our best leads! How are we suppose to defeat Grima without them?" She walked away from the table, trying to cool herself down.

They looked at one another, trying to decide what to do. "Lucina," Noire mumbled, "We've searched them for months now. What if...what if we never found them?"

"No! We must find them. We have to! That's the only way we can stop him."

The group fell silent again. This meeting was not going well at all.

 _ ***Sigh* I guess I need to say something...**_

"So, apart from trying to find some jewels and...er, the Fire Emblem, is there REALLY no other choices?"

"Well..." Laurent answered, "there is one other option..."

"Laurent, we've talked about this!" Gerome interrupted angrily.

Lucina's eyes brightened as she heard that, "Oh? What is the other option?"

Laurent avoided the serious glare from Gerome and replied, "During our travels, I came across an old book which talked about the many abilities of Naga. One of the power she is capable of, apparently, is casting a time traveling spell," he continued, "So if we were to use that spell and traveled back in time, we could stop your father's death and prevent all of this from happening."

All of a sudden, Gerome yelled at him furiously, "Laurent! It won't work. We can't just change the destiny as we pleased!"

Laurent calmly responded, "Gerome, while I concur there might some unforeseen consequences, there is no evidence to suggest we will fail. Besides, I believe you could benefit from it as well."

Gerome crossed his arms and didn't seem to believe it at all, "Really? How can I gain anything from it?"

"You always talk about finding a home for Minerva. Well, I remember that the wyvern valley was still unharmed before the awakening of Grima. So you could use this chance and bring Minerva to settle there."

Gerome seemed to be less hostile. "hmph" was the only sound he made after that.

I was skeptical about the plan, "Are you sure that Naga can do it? It sounds really impossible."

"Certainly. She is the Divine Dragon and has immense power. It wouldn't be too much of a challenge for her."

 _ **The Divine Dragon? This world is just getting weirder and weirder.**_

While everyone were encouraged by the news, Lucina was hesitant, "But...does that mean we need to leave the people behind?"

Laurent sighed, "Unfortunately, that is correct. We just can't bring them with us to Mount Prism. It would only slow us down and attract too much attention."

She wasn't too fond of that idea, "I...I need to think about it." She slowly walked out of the room, deep in thoughts. Laurent stared at Inigo, trying to imply something.

He noticed the stare right away, "Okay, I'll go talk to her." Then he followed her out.

"Well, this meeting is adjourned."

* * *

 ** _Hmm...I wonder...Ah, there they are.  
_**

After the meeting, everyone went back to their duties. Since I wasn't assigned to anything yet, so I got a chance to wander around the 'castle'. But while I would love to explore around the place, I was more curious about how the discussion between the royals was going. So I searched around and eventually, found them in an empty garden. Standing behind a wall, I watched their conversation.

"...I can't just abandon those people!" Lucina exclaimed.

Inigo was still persuading her, "I know this is a tough decision. But we are running out of time. The Risen are getting stronger and bolder as we speak. Lucina, we cannot wait any longer."

"But..."

"Look, I understand why you are so reluctant to do so. But in truth, we are not abandoning them. Because if we succeed, none of this would have happened and everyone would be living happily."

Lucina walked away from the conversation, sadness could easily be seen from her face. She looked up at the night sky and mumbled, "What would our father do about this?"

Inigo sighed and tried to comfort her, "He would do whatever it takes to save the innocents," He continued, "and he would also be very proud of you for honoring his memory."

They didn't speak anything after that. The silence lasted briefly until Lucina finally decided.

"...Okay, we'll find Naga to use that spell." She smiled, "Thanks, brother."

He smiled back, "Anytime, sis."

Meanwhile, I was determining what to do next.

 _ **They're going to have a lot of trouble...which means there will be more chance of fighting than staying here...kind of an obvious choice, really.**_

So I stopped hiding and greeted them, "Oh, hello, Lucina, Inigo."

They seemed startled, "Magnus? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was looking around the place when I suddenly heard you will be visiting Mount Prism soon. I realize this is going to be a dangerous journey so I want to volunteer myself to join your party."

Lucina looked at me suspiciously, "Were you eavesdropping us?"

 _ **Better not admit that...**_

I acted surprised, "What? Of course not! I've just arrived here when you said that, I swear."

She didn't seem to believe me but she let it slide. Returning back to the subject, she said, "You know, I will feel more comfortable about stationing you here..."

 _ **Oh hell no! Change her mind! CHANGE HER MIND!**_

"Listen, the journey is going to be full of danger and you'll need every protection you can get. I'm a seasoned fighter myself so I could provide a lot of help, making the trip a lot easier."

She stared at me in silence, deciding what to do with me. For a moment, I was really scared she wouldn't change her mind. But luckily, she did.

"Alright, you can join us for the journey." She turned around and said, "Inigo, tell the others that we'll move out at dawn."

"No problem."

 _ **This is going to be fantastic...**_


	4. Chapter 4: Midway camping

**Thank you for all the support I've received so far. It's good to know that people are intrigued by the story. I'll try to keep posting new chapters as soon as possible but honestly, I can't really make any promises.  
**

 **Anyway, next chapter, go!**

* * *

"…Thus began the epic tale of the 13 heroes. They had one clear and worthy objective: to seek out the help of the divine dragon and liberate the chaotic world from the fallen dragon. Together, they embarked a heroic journey across thousands miles, with immense strength and determination. Sacrifices were made but none could stray them away from their noble goal and...they...PREVAILED!"

"…I'm surprised you haven't got shot by an archer yet." That was the only response I could give.

We stopped to camp for the night after traveling for a few days and so far, it was terribly boring. There were no Risen to be seen, no enemy to fight, just mindless riding across the burnt countryside and destroyed villages. I started to think that staying in the castle might be more exciting than this. But it wasn't all bad news, we've made some good progress in our travel as we would arrive two days earlier. That being said, it could have been three days if she wasn't so...sticky with those people.

 ** _Well, she WAS leaving them..._**

Owain made another _heroic_ pose, "Of course! No mere archers can hit someone such..."

"OKAY! I GET IT!" I shouted and pulled myself back into the reality, "Now excuse me, I've got better things to do than listening to stories."

I knew I wasn't very friendly to a noble like him. But after spending some time with them, I realized they were nothing like the ones I knew: they weren't arrogant, they didn't care about titles and they actually spoke like normal people. To be honest, I saw them more like fellow soldiers rather than royals, a thought which would never cross my mind few years ago.

As I ignored his mutter and walked away, I heard something was cutting quickly through the air, producing sharp whistles. The sound came from the edge of the camp and I recognized it immediately.

 ** _Sounds like someone is training...again._**

I moved towards the sound and my guess was right: Kjelle was once again fighting against her imaginary enemies, with her wooden lance and large shield, in her full set of heavy armor. Despite sweating like rain, she still managed to keep up the assault which was quite remarkable.

"What do you want, Magnus?" She noticed me and put her lance down, wiping off her sweat.

"Nothing, just watching you train," I slowly walked towards her, "so are you bored as well?"

"A bit, but I train whenever I'm free." She picked her lance up but just before she continued, she stopped and asked, "Say, do you want to have a spar?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I guess so. I'm not busy anyway." I put on my helmet and picked up a wooden sword at the side. She chuckled as she saw that, "Do you really think a sword could win against heavy armor?"

I smiled and replied, "Only if you know how to use it properly." Instead of holding the grip, I held the blade with both hands and with the pommel pointing upwards. She looked puzzled but she didn't raise any questions.

"Well, Kjelle, ready when you are."

She rushed towards me at a...surprisingly high speed and tried to stab me with her lance. I parried it to the side with the blade and thrust the pommel towards her face. She blocked it successfully with her shield but I immediately dashed to the side and swung my inverted sword towards her, hitting the side of her shield with the cross-guard. She turned around to prevent another attack but I closed in and adjusted my sword to point it closely towards her throat. So within minutes, the spar was over and she was stunned.

"What? How...?"

"While lance can hit a target from a long distance, they are useless in a short distance so I used it to my advantage." I moved the sword away from her and took off my helmet, "But I must say, your reflex and speed are better than average soldiers."

She sighed, "Not good enough, it seems."

 ** _Honestly, I don't expect you to._**

"Anyway, what sort of technique was that? I've never seen it before."

I tried to explain with my sword, "This is called half-swording. It can act like a mace and deliver a powerful blow to well-armored people like you. It can also provide a more accurate thrust into the gaps of the armor. Back then, I used it all the time."

Kjelle wasn't very sure about it. She crossed her arms and asked, "Wouldn't it cut your hands if you do that?"

"First of all, steel gauntlets." I wiggled my fingers in front of her, "Secondly, as long as you don't let the sword slide, it wouldn't cut your hands..."

"Ah, there you are."

I looked back and saw it was Inigo, smiling at us...or maybe just at her.

"Hey, Kjelle, looking pretty good today."

She groaned as she heard it, "What do you want, Inigo?"

"Actually, I want to talk with him for a moment."

"Me? Okay then." I followed him back to the center of the camp. While we were walking, I was wondering what it was about. It could be a number of things but I sincerely hoped it wasn't about girls as it would be even more annoying than Owain's stories. Luckily, he had something else in mind.

"Magnus, you are assigned to guard duty, along with Gerome for tonight."

"Sure, no problem." Then I suddenly remembered something, "Wait, is he the guy with a giant fire-breathing bird?"

He looked both surprised and annoyed by the question, "I've told you before, It's actually a wyvern. Is there a problem for that?"

 ** _You mean apart from spending time with a creature that could kill me instantly? Yeah, no problem at all._**

"Nothing I can't handle." I tried to force a smile as I answered.

He looked at me one last time, "Alright then." Then he left me and met with Kjelle again, who stared at him in disgust.

As for me, I was thinking about what I should do next, before being disturbed by another person.

"Hey, tin-head!" A female voice said behind me.

I scowled as I heard that, "I actually have a name, Severa. It's..."

"Whatever," she interrupted, "have you seen Noire?"

"Er, I guess she's in her tent."

She looked really unhappy, "If she was there, do you think I would ask you?"

 ** _This bloody woman..._**

I crossed my arms and replied harshly, "and how am I supposed to know that?"

"Gods, you are useless." She walked away and asked other people in a similar manner. Seeing this, I sighed and put my palm on my face.

 ** _I'm going to hate her, am I?_**

Noticing I wasn't occupied at all, I decided to find Noire myself to save the others from an irritating woman. I walked around the once quiet camp and finally found her sitting next to a campfire. She was tweaking her bow and looked very nervous, which was rather normal for her.

I moved towards and greeted her, "Hey, Noire."

"EEK!"

That scream took me by surprise, "Um, Noire?"

Her hands were shaking, causing her bow to fall down. She looked up and relaxed slightly when she saw it was me, "Magnus, you...you startled me."

"Yeah, I noticed," I scratched the back of my head, "Anyway, Severa is looking all over for you. Do you know that?"

She picked her bow back up, "Oh, it...it must be about the dinner duty..."

"Great, now go find her before she bothers me again." I turned around and was walking back into my tent. But for some reason, Noire was following closely behind me.

Confused, I asked her, "Er, what are you doing?"

"Can you lead me to her? I'm...a bit afraid of the dark."

"...You are joking, right?" But she looked dead serious about it.

 ** _How the hell can she survive that long?_**

"Alright, follow me." Then we walked together in silence.

* * *

Dinner was still painfully uneventful. We were all sitting around a campfire, except Gerome who was nowhere to be seen, and eating some kind of mash which I assumed was a potato. It tasted flat and certainly wasn't pleasant but I didn't really mind: I had worse during the war.

"So, Magnus, I heard you were a soldier once, correct?" Nah suddenly said.

"Yes, I was. What about it?" I put down my half-eaten meal and answered.

"How long have you served in the army?" Others lowered their bowls down and turned their focus on me.

"Ten years." I continued to eat and to my surprise, they seemed to find it shocking.

"Ten...years," Yarne muttered, "But you look like 25, 30 at most!"

 ** _Do I really look that old?_**

"Actually, I'm 20 and I stopped fighting since last year." This stirred up a discussion among them. It appeared this concept was unheard of. Eventually, Laurent spoke up, "Curious, I never knew Ferox would employ child soldiers."

"It's…not a common thing, I must say. They tend only to use them in small skirmishes to train the young about the art of war." I tried to make something up.

He didn't seem to believe it but he had no evidence against it, "...Fair enough. But that brings into question, you said you've retired from prolonged fighting. Then why have you returned?"

 ** _Because it was BORING...on second thought, maybe I shouldn't say it._**

"What else? The Risen." I lied, "Last year, they attacked my place and burnt the house down so I have to flee. I tried to find another place to settle down but I never could. Eventually, I realized that the only way to find peace was to destroy them, permanently. So I traveled around the world, hoping to find some resistance against them and now here I am."

Silence fell among the group. By the looks of it, my _situation_ wasn't so unusual after all. On one hand, I'm glad that was the case. But on the other hand, this would be a big problem if they found out the truth. After a while, they returned back to their discussions and I realized there was no point in continuing this, "Well, I will leave you all to enjoy your dinner." I walked back into my tent and sat on my bed, started to sharpen my sword. After a moment, someone suddenly burst in, "Oh, hello Magnus."

I stopped sharpening and asked, "What is it, Cynthia?"

She cheerfully replied, "You said you've fought for a long time. So you must have a lot of heroic stories, right?."

I wasn't expecting that, "Well, if you mean facing enormous danger and overcoming impossible odds, then yes. I do have a few stories to tell."

"Cool! Can you tell some of them? You must felt pretty epic back then."

 _ **Epic? Seriously?**_

She noticed my strange expression and asked, "Um, why are you staring at me like this?"

"Nothing. It's just that...you must be quite new if you think like that."

She was deeply confused, "Why is that? Didn't you feel like a hero when you defended the innocents and saved lives?"

"No, I did not." I stood up and started to walked out of the tent. Before I exited, I looked back at her and continued, "I just felt lucky to be alive." She was frozen at the point as I moved further into the darkness of night.

 _ **Well, that completely ruined my mood.**_

Feeling rather depressed about the past, I wandered around the camp to look for a distraction. They've gone back into their tents already so it was quite vacant. All the tents were closed, except the equipment tent for some reason. I walked inside and bumped into Brady, who was inspecting the staffs in great interest.

I moved inside and greeted him, "Brady, what are you doing?"

He jumped a little bit and cried in surprised, "Well, heck! Don't ya scare me like that!"

I was in no mood to deal with this, "Sure, yeah, and what are you doing?"

"I'm checkin' the staffs. Don't want to have a faulty one when we're fightin'."

That got my curiosity, "Why do you need to care so much about them? Aren't they just symbolic anyway?"

He put his staff back and replied, "Er, no. I need them to treat others."

Disbelieving, I grabbed one nearby and asked, "Wait, so you're telling me that you actually heal people by wiggling this stick?"

"First, it's not _wigglin'._ " He continued after taking the staff out of my hand, "There's a certain way to use it. For example, you need to..."

 _ **Actually, forget it.**_

"Oh, look." I pointed outside and acted surprise, "It's time for my guard duty already. Let's continue this topic some...other time." I swiftly walked out of the tent before he could say anything. I was still having a hard time to understand how some of them could transform so I didn't want to add that healing magic into the mix.

 ** _Right, let's find where Gerome is.  
_**

He shouldn't be too difficult to be found as he usually stayed close around his wyvern. So I went to the large, empty area where we kept our horses. Just as expected, he was gently caressing that bird and whispering something to it. Normally, I would approach him like any other but I stopped: that creature didn't look friendly at all.

 _ **...maybe later...**_

Just when I about to leave, he suddenly said flatly, "You are late."

I kept a distance from him and replied, "Sorry, I got distracted by something. But now that I'm here, do you want to begin our patrol?"

Without looking at me, he jumped on the back of his wyvern and answered, "Alright, I'll patrol in the air while you patrol on the ground." He pulled the reins and immediately flow upwards, blowing a lot of dust off the ground. They circled around the camp for a moment and then they flow away where I could no longer see.

 _ **He just likes to act alone, doesn't he?**_

Seeing there was no point staying around, I slowly patrolled around the camp, waiting for something to happen...

* * *

 _ **Why? Why must I sign up for this?  
**_

As I was thinking, I kicked a rock and THAT was the most exciting thing that I've done so far. The whole situation was getting unbearable. To make it worse, Gerome would sometimes fly down unexpectedly and exchanged information with me, which meant I had to face that creature unprepared.

I looked around the peaceful camp and check again. The moon was standing high in the sky and the night was lifeless, even the tiniest rock dropping sound could be heard from afar. Although nothing seemed to be amiss, much to my annoyance, my instinct said otherwise. So I examined the ground carefully and found something great: unknown footprints. Since everyone else should be asleep by now, so I eagerly followed the footprints and finally found someone standing ahead, with the back facing me. I immediately pulled out my sword and rushed towards him _._ The person quickly turned around and unsheathed a sword as well.

 _ **Finally! Some actions and...**_

"Lucina? What...are you doing here? My shift isn't over yet." I sheathed my sword and looked at the slightly surprised princess.

She put her sword back and replied, "Just trying to ease my mind. Where's Gerome by the way?"

I tried not to express my disappointment, "He flow south, saying something was going on over there."

"Oh, that explains it."

We looked at each other and stood in awkward silence. Eventually, I had enough of it and turned away, "Well, I'll leave you to it then."

"Magnus, can I ask you a question?" She asked just before I left.

While I wasn't interested in socializing, I couldn't find any excuses to avoid her, "Sure, go ahead."

"What do you think of this group?"

I chuckled as I heard it, "I don't think my opinion matters, Lucina."

She stared at me seriously, "It matters and I want to hear it."

"...Very well then." I hesitated for a moment to come up with a reply, "To me, I think all of them are excellent fighters. But almost none of them are good soldiers."

"Oh? Why is that?" she was definitely intrigued by it.

"Because they lack the mindset of a soldier," I explained, "In their eyes, I can see they've been fighting for a while now. I can also see they understand the importance and the cost of war. But there is one thing that I can't see: their willingness to win one."

She strongly disagreed, "But all of them want to end this war!"

I laughed dryly and shook my head, "Of course they do. But what I mean is how far they're willing to go. Can they do whatever it takes to win a war? I don't think so. They are all too kind and too...soft for that," I avoided her deadly glare and continued, "But then again, I never expect them to. They are still young and still have much to learn."

She was silent for a while, staring at me with her widened eyes. I knew she would react like this: she was also too soft to do something that violates her beliefs and ideology. In fact, She would probably choose to die for that matter and that made me really concerned to follow a leader like her.

Just when she about to say something, there was a low, heavy flapping sound in the sky and it was getting louder and louder. Without raising my head, I knew what it was.

 _ **Oh no. Not him again!**_

I dashed immediately to the side, moving as far as possible. The ground shook and wind blew onto my back as something heavy landed on the ground. Then unexpectedly, I heard a second weight landed on the ground. I turned around and saw it was Gerome who fell on the ground, with an arrow stuck out from his shoulder.

"GEROME!" Lucina ran towards him, checking his condition. I would've rushed towards him as well but I didn't: I still couldn't handle wyvern. So I found the sleeping healer instead and he quickly fixed him up with his staff.

"Magnus, I know this is serious. But must you shoved me off my bed?!" Brady grumbled after he was done.

I shrugged my shoulders, "It was the fastest way. Besides, it worked, didn't it?"

"...I hate you."

"I can live with that."

Lucina ignored us and tried to understand the situation, "Gerome, what happened?"

"There's...a large group of Risen heading this way. They spotted me when I tried to report back." He groaned as he attempted to move his injured arm, "Lucina, we're heavily outnumbered."

My eyes lit up as I heard it, "Alright! Let's group up and take them all down."

"No!", she shouted, "We need to get out of here now!"

 _ **OH COME ON!**_

"Fine! I'll wake the others up." I took my back shield and short blade out. While holding the strip of the shield, I hit it repeatedly with the cross-guard of the blade, like hitting a drum, and move around the once silent camp.

"EVERYONE! GET THE HELL UP! RISEN ARE COMING AND WE. ARE. LEAVING."

Surprisingly, they reacted almost instantly and came out with all their equipment. They quickly moved to get their horses and in the midst of the chaos, Nah looked around and asked, "Wait, what about the tents?"

"Leave them! Just get all of your essentials!" I yelled as I grabbed my bag from my tent. She swiftly joined the others and the camp was almost deserted.

Suddenly, I remembered something.

 _ **Oh right, just need to do one last thing.**_

From the camp fire, I took a couple of burning woods and tossed them into a tent. It burnt fairly quickly and the fire soon spread to other tents, creating a large flame. Laurent noticed and his mouth dropped open, "Wait! What are you doing?!"

"I'm burning down our tents. We can't let any resources fall into the enemy's hands." I threw another torch into a nearby tent, the fire grew stronger.

He was in disbelief, "A novel idea. But are you quite sure resurrected corpses require tents for resting?"

 _ **That's...a really good point.**_

"...old habits die hard. NOW GET ON YOUR HORSE!"

"Hmph! Certainly." Then he went to ride his horse with his bag of books.

I looked back at my handiwork. The fire had engulfed half of the camp already and the heat was becoming intolerable. I jumped onto my horse and regrouped with them, who were going to have a lot of questions about what I've done.

 ** _Well, to Mount Prism then..._**


	5. Flashback 1: Where the journey began

**In case you are wondering what the flashbacks are for, they are basically backstories of my OC so you can know more about them. However, if you don't really care about them, you can skip the stories entirely as they don't play a major role in the main story.  
**

 **Another thing, you will notice this one is written in third person and there is a reason for that. While I can continue to write in first person, I think that it will be clearer and more readable if I write in third person. But hey, that is just my opinion. So let me know in the reviews or PM if that is the case.  
**

* * *

 **A week earlier…**

On a sunny day in the capital city, there was a small and inconspicuous tavern around the corner of a street.

The tavern was noisy and packed with all kinds of people: some were cheering loudly for their great harvests and peaceful lives, some were having quite a spectacular drinking competition, others were simply sitting there and minded their own businesses. Despite the differences, all of them were happy. Except the man in the corner, who was in armor and carried a large shield on his back. He scanned the tavern quietly with his lifeless eyes and drank his mug of ale occasionally to wash away his sorrow.

Slowly, the front door opened silently and a hooded man with a dark green cloak entered. No one paid attention to him as they were too distracted but the man in the corner noticed. He recognized the man immediately and greeted him by raising his mug.

"Jonas." He said flatly.

The hooded man sat down swiftly opposite to him and lowered his hood, revealing a deep, long diagonal scar across his blinded left eye. He asked concernedly, "Magnus, I heard the news. What happened?"

Magnus took a sip of ale before answering, "Budget cut. They said they've spent too much money on the military so they decided to disband the reserve army."

"Gods…I'm sorry to hear that."

"Everyone is sorry." He replied sharply. As he took another sip, Jonas's eyes widened in concern.

"Are you sure you want to drink that? I mean, you nearly got executed last time you got drunk."

Magnus laughed dryly, "I can handle a mug of ale anytime, Jonas." He placed the mug on the table and continued, "But now that you've mentioned it. Perhaps it might be better if I got executed back then. At least, I wouldn't need to put up with this kind of nonsense."

Jonas chuckled as he heard it, "Ah, I see you finally starting to loosen up." But he stopped laughing when he saw the emotionless face in front of him. Trying to quickly change the subject, he cleared his throat and asked, "So, what are you going to do?"

Magnus let out a long sigh, "Honestly, I have no idea. Believe it or not, I've tried to do other things when the war was over. But every time I did, I couldn't help but felt...depressed. Jonas, I've spent my whole life to do one thing: to become a perfect soldier and fight wars whenever necessary. And now that's taken from me, I just...can't pull myself together."

Jonas was getting really worried. He had never seen Magnus like this. Even during his darkest times, there was still a burning fire in his eyes. But now, that fire was gone and was replaced by the cold, hollow sight.

"Listen, I know serving in the army is very important to you. But trust me, there are still other things to do in life. All you need to do is to find a new one."

"Like what, exactly?" Magnus questioned, doubtfully.

Jonas lay his back slightly and suggested, "Well, I can tell you from experience. Marriage is a rather excellent choice to be useful again."

Magnus chuckled and shook his head, "Seriously? Do you honestly think I can settle down quietly when my entire life was about murdering people? I don't think this will ever work." He stopped as he noticed a couple sitting next to the door. Their heart-warming smiles and playful manners caused him to be a little bit colder, "Besides, no one wants a madman like me."

Jonas's jaw dropped a bit when he heard that, "Wait, so you're saying no one has told you anything?"

"Of course. Who would be interested in me?" Magnus was profoundly confused.

"I thought...well, I mean...you know what, just forget it." He gave up before he could finish it.

Magnus gazed at him with a puzzled look. He knew that Jonas was definitely hiding something. But after spending a long time with him, he knew he could trust his judgment so he decided to ignore it, "...alright then."

He put the mug on his lips again. But just before he could drink the ale, Jonas suddenly swung his arm and snapped the mug out of his hand. The mug dropped and the ale poured all over the floor. After realizing what happened, Magnus quickly glared at him with a fierce look.

While Jonas was glad the fire was back, that wasn't the way he wanted to do it, "Sorry, but I REALLY think you shouldn't drink that."

Magnus groaned and the fire slightly died down, "I said I can handle it! But whatever, I can live without a mug of ale."

"That's probably for the best."

They tried to resume talking but they ran out of topics. So they focused on their own things instead. Jonas turned his attention to the bustling crowd. Apparently, some drunkards were so upbeat they decided to dance on a nearby table. They jumped around in circles and wildly sang the new national anthem in unison. Some joined in but others just laughed and quickly pulled them back down.

Seeing this, Jonas had a sincere smile. He'd always dreamed of a world where people could live in peace and unity. In fact, that was the reason why he joined the army. So when the war ended and nations joined together, it was the second best day in his life. Then he looked back at Magnus, who has immersed in his own thoughts again. At times, he wished Magnus could have a similar mindset like him so he could enjoy other things that life could offer. But he knew that was never going to happen: he had fought for too long and lost too much.

"You know," Magnus suddenly opened, "I've been thinking about something the captain has said."

Jonas couldn't help but laughed as he heard it, "She has said a lot of things back then. Which one are you referring?"

"Her final ones." he replied coldly.

Jonas froze at the spot. He remembered exactly what she said, "That's...Magnus, don't tell me you are going to..."

"Everyone has their time, Jonas. It might not be soon but it's still going to happen someday. And who knows, perhaps my time has come. Perhaps I've spent enough time in this world."

Jonas panicked and tried to persuade him, "Listen, what you're thinking right now is not real and definitely not true. Just give it some time and I promise you will stop thinking about it."

Magnus shook his head and said bitterly, "Give it some time? I've been thinking about it ever since the war was over! And guess what, I reached the same conclusion every time I thought about it."

"But..."

"Jonas, please stop trying to help me. We both know there is only one thing that can change my mind. And there is no way I can get it anymore." He slowly stood up, looking at the terrified man one last time, "Goodbye, Jonas." Then he moved heavily towards the door.

Jonas was rushing with thoughts. Surely, he thought, he couldn't just stand idly about this. But there was truly no way that he could convince him out of it. Not unless...

"Wait, just hold for a moment."

Annoyed, Magnus asked impatiently, "What now?"

"Do you remember that time when Page suddenly changed his combat style completely two years ago?"

Magnus paused for a moment to think about it, "Hmm...yes, everyone was amazed how quickly he could master archery. Hell, even the captain was amazed."

"Well, he told me how he could do that a month ago. Apparently, he got some sort of a seal from a female merchant outside the city. When he activated it, he said there was a flow of energy and then he suddenly understood everything about bow and arrows. That's why he could hit targets at 70m even if he couldn't hit a thing at 10m before."

"That sounds...suspicious. But what does it have to do with me?" Magnus questioned.

He explained, "Look, like you, I didn't believe him at all. But then I did some research about that merchant. Turns out, she has got some kind of a gate which connects to different worlds. New worlds that no one has been to."

"...go on."

"Now here's what I'm thinking: what if you ask her to let you use that gate? Then you could go to whatever world you want and fight whatever war you want. You could become a soldier once more."

Magnus stood in silence, processing the information in his mind. At first, Jonas was worried it might not work. But then, he started to see the glowing brightness in his eyes.

"That's...that's great news!" he yelled, "I need to find her right away! Where is she?"

"Across the southern sea. But you're going to need a large bag of gold..."

"No problem! This is going to be great! Goodbye!"

Jonas watched as Magnus sprinted past the door and disappeared into the crowd outside. He sighed heavily and shook his head. Although he knew Magnus was not going to die anytime soon, this would be the last time he saw him.

"Goodbye, old friend." He whispered sadly. Then he put on his hood and walked silently out of the tavern...


	6. Chapter 5: The battle of Mount Prism

**Really sorry for posting this so late. The exams have thrown me off the track so bad that I basically ignored this until now. But since that is over, I should be able to upload them more frequently and at regular intervals, hopefully.**

 **Anyway, I've decided I will continue to use first-person writing in the main story and third-person writing in the side stories for the sake of consistency. If you think that's unnecessary, you're probably right and I apologize again. Enjoy.  
**

* * *

"Come on, Risen! Where the hell are you?!" I muttered angrily as I watched the roads from a distance.

After making our hasty retreat, we almost reached the peak of Mount Prism. According to Laurent, we were going to meet someone living there and then she would send us back to the past...somehow. Originally, I would've followed them to the top but Lucina was worried about the Risen behind us. So she asked me to stay behind and locate their whereabouts. Unfortunately, it seemed like they were still miles away from us.

 _ **Goddamn it! I should have slowed down and let them catch up with us.**_

Giving up on my scouting, I got on my horse and began to ride quickly to the peak. It wasn't long before I finally found them all standing motionless on the ground, staring at something. I dismounted and tried not to sound disappointed as I reported to the group.

"No sign of the Risen yet. I guess we've escaped fast enough."

But as I got closer to them, I realized they were all horrified by something in front of them. I looked towards that direction but found nothing unusual: the ground was scorched black, the trees were either dead or moldy and the once running stream has dried out, leaving deep cracks in the river bed.

Confused, I asked Inigo who was standing next to me, "What? What's so special about all this?"

He turned his head towards me in complete surprise, "This is a sacred place where the divine dragon lives. It should be filled with green grass, beautiful trees and great waterfalls. A sight to behold!"

I looked around the place again before replying, "Well, from what I've seen so far, that seems rather impossible. But put the scenery aside, aren't we here for other reasons?"

"Yes...of course, sis?"

Lucina quickly brought herself back to reality. She looked back at us, muttering sadly, "...Alright, let's go." Then she led us silently across the ravaged land and into a grand temple. But before going into the temple like the others did, I had one last look at the place before entering.

 _ **This is supposed to be beautiful? These guys need to stop believing in fairy tales...**_

* * *

Once inside, I was amazed by its spacious interior. It was like the inside of a palace that I've only visited once or twice. But unlike the palace, there wasn't much in it save for an odd-looking altar at the far end of the room. As we walked closer to it, I realized a woman was leaning weakly against it. She had green hair, wearing some kind of dress and I'm fairly sure she was glowing.

Lucina was frozen to the spot when she found her, "Naga..."

The woman looked up in surprise, but she quickly relaxed as she recognized her. She greeted her with a warm smile, "Lucina, how wonderful to see you."

"What...happened to you?"

Naga nearly collapsed as she slowly stood up. She looked at her weak hands before replying, "I've underestimated him, Lucina. Grima managed to poison me before I could do anything. My powers are fading as we speak... I'm afraid I'm dying."

"Impossible! The Fell Dragon shouldn't have the capacity to do such thing!" Laurent shouted.

She replied calmly, "He had help in this matter. But that doesn't matter right now. Why are you all here?"

They all seemed shaken about the fact she was dying so I stepped in, "We're here because Laurent said you can send us back to the past, changing history and stuff. Can you do that?"

Her smile disappeared as she spotted me,"Strange, I don't recognize you. What is your name?"

"My name is Magnus. Pleased to meet you."

She glared at me in a judging manner, "Yes, I do have this ability. But sadly, I lack the strength to perform this magic alone," she turned towards Laurent and continued, "I'll require your aid, Laurent."

Laurent looked...thrilled, to say the least. But he quickly returned to normal before replying, "It would be an honor to help you, Naga."

"Good. But it'll take some time before it's completed, and I can feel the Risen will be here very soon. So I suggest all of you to prepare for the upcoming battle." She suddenly looked at me and said, "And Magnus, could you stay here for a moment? There's something I would like to ask you in private."

"Okay..."

I wasn't sure what would happen, but I had no reason to object. So I waited until everyone else went outside, "So what do you want to ask?"

She stared at me silently for a moment, seemingly trying to look for something. Finally, she asked, "You're not from this world, are you?"

 _ **Well, damn...**_

At first, I was shocked that she knew about it. But then I remembered something that I heard from Laurent, "I was going to ask you how you figured it out. But then again, I suppose I cannot hide anything from the _divine dragon_ ," I crossed my arms and continued, "Yes. I come from another world. What about it?"

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily before answering me, "You chose a strange time to be here, outrealmer."

"Out...realmer?"

"People from another world. Even since the gates were discovered, outrealmers began to emerge. Some used them to escape their past. Others used them to find their fortunes. But you...you chose the end times."

I chuckled as I heard it, "Well, let's just I'm not like other people. But even if I'm an outrealmer, what does it have to do with anything?"

"Personally, I do not welcome the arrival of your kind. Your presence alone could set off a chain of catastrophic events that I cannot foresee. But time is desperate, and I'll need every help I can obtain."

"Don't you worry, dragon. I'm here for other reasons. Besides, how can I make this world even worse?"

"That remains to be seen. But go now, the others are waiting for you."

"Alright then."

* * *

"So...what did she ask about?" That was the first thing Lucina asked when I went outside.

I quickly replied, "Nothing important. What is our defense plan?"

She looked puzzled about my dismissive answer but she didn't force me to answer. She replied, "Alright, here's the plan: Inigo, Kjelle, Nah, Owain and I will stay in the front to deal with the initial assault. Gerome, Cynthia and Brady will act as support if anyone gets into trouble. You, Severa, Yarne and Noire will stay in the back to make sure no Risen can block our retreat..."

 _ **Great...more sitting around and doing nothing...wonderful...**_

"Are you alright? you look...disappointed." She suddenly asked me.

"What?...oh, it's nothing. I just...eh...feel tired after all those traveling. That's all."

"Well, get some rest. We still have a long battle ahead of us."

"Sure! I'm definitely going to do that."

She eyed me with utter suspicion before she left to attend other matters. Just when she wasn't within earshot, I facepalmed myself and quietly cursed about my actions.

"Damn my entire life! Why am I trained to follow orders?..."

* * *

It would seem the Risen were very...VERY far away. We have waited for around an hour and they still haven't shown up yet. Everyone was worried and Lucina was concerned enough to send Gerome, who had just recovered, to find out where they were. So here I was: sitting on the stairs with Severa, in front of the temple, and sharpening my sword like a maniac.

"Hey, Magnus. Are you trying to break your sword?" Severa asked.

I forced a smile when I replied, "If I want to break it, you will be the first to know."

"Hmph."

After this short exchange, we just sat quietly and did our things. After a while, I asked her about the reason why the world was in such ruinous state. While I didn't care much about it, I was getting very bored.

"What? You don't know?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

I tried to make something up, "I was living in isolation. Give me a break."

"Oh really? You were so isolated that you don't know anything at all?"

"Like I've said, _isolation_."

She still had doubts about me, judging from her face. But she did answer me, "In short, it all started when Lucina's father died."

"...that's it? A guy got killed?"

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO CHROM WAS?!"

Her fury completely shocked me, "Eh...no?"

"Gawd! I know you come from Ferox. But still...ugh!"

I would've calmed her down, but then I saw a dark figure in the night sky. It was hard to tell but it was definitely flying closer to us, and I knew what it was.

 _ **Here they come.**_

I eagerly stood up, ignoring the angry girl beside me, and ran down the stairs. Just as I've expected, Gerome landed next to Lucina and began his report.

"Lucina, they've already passed the middle of the mountain. I expect them to reach here after a few minutes."

"How many are there?" I asked.

"Enough to overwhelm us."

 _ **Good.**_

She pulled out her sword and shouted, "Everyone! Get to your positions!" Once hearing it, everyone immediately rushed to their corresponding positions. Their bodies tensed up as they prepared for the imminent battle. But for me, I just put on my helmet and walked lazily to my spot.

"What? We still have a couple of minutes." I told Severa when she was giving me a strange look. Just when I arrived at my position, everyone has readied themselves already: Gerome and Cynthia, taking Brady on her flying horse, have flown up into the sky. Lucina was standing in the front and giving last reminders to the front group. In the back, Yarne was changing to animal form like Nah did and Noire inspected her bow one last time. Seeing all this, I couldn't help but did one thing: a nice, long back stretch.

 _ **Yeah, I needed that.  
**_

Then I finally saw them: a sea of Risen charging at us from the horizon. They shouted some unknown words before running across the field. As they got closer and closer, I pulled out my longsword and positioned myself into a fighting stance. They were getting so close that I could see their glowing purple eyes, with a fiery determination to kill us.

*Schhwaff*

Noire started to let out a barrage of arrows, and every arrow found their mark. But whenever one fell, another quickly took its place and ran towards us. Before long, it finally happened: the second battle I had in this world.

"NOW!"

Lucina led Owain and Inigo and charged at the crowd, swiftly cutting down the first row of the Risen. Their speed was unmatched as they disposed of several Risen in a matter of seconds. Kjelle quickly followed and knocked down a couple of them with her shield. She might not move as fast as them but her armor made the Risen tough to hurt her. Nah breathed out a giant fireball to suppress the enemy, killing some of them instantly. The fireball left a big circle of fire that I could almost felt it from the back. Even though the Risen might be having a hard time, they were far from beaten. They quickly regrouped and attacked recklessly, hoping this would break our lines. But Lucina's group firmly stood their grounds.

While they were busy dealing with the frontal assault, some managed to slip from the sides and tried to encircle them. Seeing this, Severa, Yarne and I quickly moved in and disrupted their plan. We had succeeded in killing some of them before they noticed and swarmed at us. Immediately, I repositioned myself to face their assault. One of them threw itself at me and swung its axe rapidly. To response, I jumped back a little bit and swiped my sword to its head. It tried to block the attack but my strength overcame it, making a deep cut on its face. It died shortly after but another one quickly moved in to attack. It swung its blade around which I promptly blocked it. Feeling it was a strong attack, I immediately displaced my sword to the other side and thrust it to its face. The Risen quickly pulled its sword back to defend, but I immediately bashed it with my cross-guard and then slit its throat with ease.

Meanwhile, it seemed that the plan was working so far: no one has died yet and we still had a clear path to retreat. I was killing off another one when I noticed Lucina suddenly jumped up to the sky and spun vertically to the ground. Her sword landed on a Risen nearby, cutting it in half. While she acted like it was nothing special, it was definitely not normal.

 _ **What the hell? How can she do that?!**_

The distraction was a mistake: one of them sneaked behind me and hit my head with its mace. I immediately fell, followed by blurred vision and an intense headache. When my vision began to clear up, I saw it raising up its mace to deliver the finishing blow. Fortunately, I managed to pick up a rock and quickly threw at it. The rock hit its head, temporally disrupted its attack. Seizing the chance, I swiftly got up and thrust my sword to its neck. But it wasn't over yet as I caught a glimpse of two archers standing nearby, ready to fire at me. To defend myself, I tried to pull a trick I've learned from the past: move the corpse around and use it to block the arrows. But just when I did that, the body disintegrated in front of my eyes.

 _ **Oh yeah, I forgot about OUCH!**_

Without any barrier, the arrows flew into my chest and knocked me down. The back pain was getting unbearable but I held up. I slightly lifted my head to see what had happened. Just as I've expected, two arrows were sticking out from my chest. Even so, there wasn't any stabbing pain at all. I twitched one of them slightly and realized they didn't hurt me: my mail beneath my plate armor has stopped them. But while I might've survived that, there was no way I could deal with the archers in time. Helplessly, I watched as they began to arm their bows. But then a giant creature landed on them, crushing them instantly. Apparently, Gerome saw my dire situation from the sky and rushed in to save me. Brady soon arrived to check my condition, "Ya alright?"

"I'm not hurt if that's what you mean." I stood up and pulled out an arrow to show him the bloodless arrowhead, "Now go. I can take care of myself." He was a bit reluctant to leave but he eventually went with Cynthia to support the others. Once they left me alone, I immediately moved to the front to get the most of the fighting. The battle was messy and intense as we fought fearlessly against an enemy with no end. It was such a wonderful thing but sadly, it didn't last long as I saw Laurent appeared on top of the temple's stairs.

"Everyone! The spell is ready. Get inside now!"

Upon hearing it, others immediately disengaged and made a run for it. But I had waited too long for this, so I continued to fight while steadily paced backward to the temple. When the others almost made it inside, I was still battling at the bottom of the stairs. Lucina was both shocked and mad when she realized that, "Magnus! What are you doing?!"

"Covering your retreat." I knew it was a bad excuse, but I wanted the battle to last as long as it could.

"What?! No! Get back here at this instant!"

 _ **Goddamn it, fine!**_

I punched a Risen one last time before retreating. But for better or worse, something hit the top of the entrance while I was running up the steps and large stones began to fall. Without a second thought, I immediately jumped down the stairs to avoid being crushed. A massive amount of dust appeared soon after so I couldn't see what was happening. When the dust finally settled, I realized one major issue: the entrance has been blocked by the stones. Without any help, there was no way I could enter the temple.

 _ **Well, so much for that.**_

And that's when it all went chaotic: the Risen closed in like a wave, trying to overwhelm me. I would've died already but they lacked discipline and coordination. So I managed to kill several of them before they could land a few hits on me. Even so, the odds of survival was getting slimmer and slimmer. Then the strangest thing happened: they started to back off. In fact, all of them backed off.

 _ **Wait, why are they ARGH!**_

The pain was nothing like I've experienced: my body twitched and twisted uncontrollably as my hands clamped around my sword. I let out a soft cry and fell on my knees, barely holding up myself. But oddly enough, they didn't kill me immediately. Instead, I could only hear one person coming towards me. I lifted my head with all my strength and saw it was a young boy. He was at most 16 years old and carried a tome like Laurent. His short sword was resting on the left side of his strange cloak. I couldn't see his face clearly as half of it was covered by his hood.

He stopped at few steps in front of me and asked coldly, "Who are you?"

I tried to mutter, "Why...why do you...care?"

"I know everyone in Lucina's group. In fact, I know every soldier in that pathetic castle. And yet, I still don't recognize you."

"Well...you still have...have a lot to learn...kid..."

My arms were still tensed up but they were far better than before. I kept him distracted as I slowly prepare to lunged at him, "Since...I'm going to die anyway, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Why are you so keen...to kill them?"

He went silent for a moment, "Because my master told me so."

"Oh, so we actually share something in common. You know, I wonder if you..."

Before he could react, I leaped out and knocked off his tome. He quickly jumped back and pulled out his sword to defend himself. While he might not look like much, he was actually quite fast. In fact, he was so fast that he made a few scratches on my armor. Once I pushed him further enough, I picked up the tome and ripped it up with my short blade, "Now, let's see how good you're with a sword."

I dashed forward and made several quick slashes. But he dodged all of them and started his counterattack. While we were fighting more and more vigorously, the Risen began to form a circle around us. It was concerning but I had more pressing matters at hand. As the fight continued, I became increasingly uneasy as his fighting style was somewhat...familiar. But there wasn't any time to think as his attacks were swift and precise. Eventually, I found a chance to shoved him away from me and asked some questions.

"You're kind of good at this. Who taught you?"

"I learned it by myself."

Then he lunged towards me, hoping to finish me with a quick stab. But I was prepared for that: I quickly stepped to the side and tackled him using his forward momentum. He dropped his sword and fell helplessly. As he was lying painfully on the ground, I carefully walked towards him and raised up my sword. But just when I was about to deal the final blow, a Risen suddenly closed in and swung its sword towards my face. Surprised but still alert, I narrowly dodged it and turned towards it to defend myself. It swung its sword in quick successions, but I managed to parry all of them. After a short while, I noticed it was only defending its upper body, so I swung my sword downwards and cut its legs. It stumbled and then I slashed its head, killing it instantly. Others joined in to take me down but I wasn't going to give up that easily.

While I was dealing with his minions, I caught a glimpse of him searching for something in his bag underneath his cloak. To my horror, he took out another tome and started flipping through the pages.

 _ **OH NO YOU DON'T!**_

I quickly disposed of them and dashed towards him. But before I could cut him in half, he muttered a few words and a gust of wind came out from his hand. The immense force blew me up into the air. I flew for a couple of seconds until I hit a solid brick wall on my back, then falling for a few metrics onto the ground.

The impact was a severe blow to me: not only I had a massive headache, but I also had a sudden urge to throw up. I quickly removed my helmet and vomited on the ground. Immediately, I knew I was going to lose: it was blood. I was vomiting a lot of blood. Despite that, I tried to get up as fast as I could.

 _ **Come on, Magnus. Get up get up get... I can't!**_

I fell back on the ground. My strength was fading rapidly as blood slowly leaked out from my mouth. I tilted my head slightly and saw him treading towards me, with his short sword in his hand. There was nothing more I could do.

 _ **Oh well, I did my best...**_

I relaxed my body and gently closed my eyes. Before I passed out, I saw a bright, white light. Then it slowly faded into complete darkness.


	7. Chapter 6: A new plan

**Right, so here's what I plan to do: I'm going to upload new chapters about every 2 months. While I know it would be great if I could upload them more often, my university life is, unfortunately, pretty busy at the moment. So I apologize in advance.**

 **Anyway, as much as I would like to continue the Future Past story, I'm afraid I've run out of ideas. So it's time to move on to the present timeline. Happy reading.**

* * *

 ** _Where am I?_**

That was the first thing that came to my mind when I opened my eyes. For some reason, the place was no longer a destroyed place that I remembered. Instead, I was surrounded by tall, green grasses. The grasses swung gently as the wind softly blew across the field, forming different kinds of patterns. Looking up the blue sky, I could see thin, white clouds slowly moving along the wind. Birds were singing from a distance, creating a joyful and relaxing melody.

"Am I dead?", I muttered to myself. While I didn't feel like I was dead, it suddenly struck me: I was defenseless, surrounded by many Risen and about to be killed by that boy. Even if I could fly, there was still no way I could survive that.

 ** _So I must be dead then...funny, I never thought I could make it to heaven. Now let's just get up and OUCH OUCH OUCH!_**

I fell face down, breathing heavily as I waited for the back pain to fade slowly. It was as painful as if someone has made a few slashes on my back. But on the bright side, I knew it wasn't.

 ** _Okay! If I can pull a muscle in heaven, I'm going to find God and beat the hell out of him._**

But it made me realized something: I was actually still breathing. While I had no idea if I could do that in heaven, I decided to take it as a sign of being alive. I slowly stood up as I wondered what to do next. Although I was keen to know how I was still alive, my whereabouts was a more urgent matter. So I put the question aside for the moment and took a look around. Apparently, I was in the outskirt of a large, prosperous town. It was buzzing with life as people walked around the crowded streets. They were moving in and out of the buildings, carrying goods like loaves of bread, clothes and such. Their smiles were warm and friendly as if there was nothing to worry about. It was an impressive sight but a useless one. Even so, I did find the streets and the buildings somewhat familiar.

While trying to figure out where I was, I caught a glimpse of a farmer passing nearby. So I stopped him and, without acting too intimidating, asked some questions.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

He replied in a surprisingly enthusiastic tone, "But of course, my good sir! How can I help?"

"What is this place?"

"You're in Ylisstol, sir. The capital of the Halidom of Ylisse."

I checked around the place again, "No, I'm not."

"Sir?" He stared at me, puzzled by my response.

"Last time I was in Ylisstol, it was abandoned and destroyed. Filled with creatures that wanted to kill anyone on sight." I pointed at the flourished town before continuing, "And that's not what I'm seeing right now."

His eyes widened as if I've gone crazy, "Sir, you must be mistaken. Even during the war, it was never in such...terrible state. Are you quite alright?"

I was going to keep arguing with him. But then, I suddenly remembered about what happened in the temple, about Naga and her time traveling spell.

 _ **Have I traveled back in time? But how?  
**_

I decided to check it out regardless, "Oh...I must be wrong then. Say, who is the ruler of this country?"

His eagerness returned again, "You mean the exalt? That would be Lady Emmeryn. The kindest and most beautiful..."

"Okay, then who is the next in line?"

He stumbled a bit, "Well...I suppose that would be her younger brother, Prince Chrom."

 ** _That name...hey, that's the guy they were looking for!_**

I acted calmly and continued to ask, "Prince Chrom, you say. Do you know where he is?"

"Ah, so you wish to join the Shepherds?"

While I had no idea what it had to do with the herdsman, there was no reason to correct him, "Yeah...sure...where can I find him?"

"He has just returned with his fellow Shepherds from Southtown. I believe he would be staying in the Shepherds' garrison, just down that main road."

"Thanks."

After getting that information, we bid each other farewell and went our separate ways. As I watched him continuing his journey, I began to collect my thoughts about my next move. It didn't take long before I had a simple but workable plan: followed Prince Chrom around until I found them. Since they went to such great lengths to protect him, so they wouldn't take any chances and would surely guard him carefully. That meant if I openly served under him, they would notice me and I could reunite with them again.

With that in mind, I quickly walked past the gazing crowd and towards the garrison...

* * *

Once I reached the garrison, I was greeted by several guards in front of the gate. They were friendly enough to lead me into a large room after explaining my _intention_. But instead of meeting Prince Chrom right away, they said I was going to meet a noblewoman called Maribelle because "that's what we were told." So here I was, sitting in front of a large rectangle table and waited impatiently for whoever to come.

While I was waiting, I took the chance to look around the room. It seemed to be some kind of a meeting room as there were lots of chairs surrounded the table. The room was brightly lit thanks to the large window at the side. I looked out the window, trying to find something interesting. But there was nothing much to see apart from a large training yard. Despite its size, there wasn't anyone training outside which surprised me.

Then I heard it: footsteps of high heel shoes. The sound echoed through the hallway as it got closer and closer. A few moments later, the door opened and a blonde teenage girl, carrying a tiny umbrella, entered the room. I immediately knew she was a noble judging from the way she stood. She stopped briefly at the side of the door, with a little smile on her face at first. Then her eyes twitched and quickly covered her nose with her hand. But she immediately removed it and resumed her _noble_ posture. Then she paced back and forth before sitting at the opposite end of the table.

She opened with a high pitch voice, "Mr. Silver I presume?"

I got a shivering when I heard it, "Please, just call me Magnus. I'm not used to being called like that."

"My apologies. I should've known it would be too overwhelming for a simple person like you."

 ** _Finally, a "proper" noble._**

"Right, I guess you're Maribelle then?"

"That's correct. I've been told you wish to speak to Prince Chrom. May I enquire why?"

I used the same explanation as before, "Well, I want to join the Shepherds."

She stared at me for a moment before replying, "Hmm...you do look like that sort of person."

 ** _Wait, do the farmers wear armors like this?_**

"But unfortunately, he departed hours ago for an expedition. So I'm afraid you have to meet him some other time."

"Really? Then when will they come back?" I asked.

"It's difficult to say. But I believe it would be weeks later."

 ** _Weeks later?! I'm not going to wait that long!_**

Then something came to my mind, "Wait. You said they've just left hours ago, right? So that means they're not too far away yet. Then if I move quick enough, I could still catch up with them and join them."

She looked suspicious about my response, "You seem oddly eager to meet them."

"It's a personal matter. Where did they go?"

"To the North. Regna Ferox."

"Great, but there's no way I can catch up with them on foot. Can I borrow one of your horses? I promise I'll return it back once I find them."

She seemed highly skeptical about my behavior. To be fair, I would be too if a random soldier showed up out of nowhere and demanded to get a horse. But I had a good reason to do that. Fortunately, she was quite trusting at the moment.

"I suppose I could lend you a horse. But I warn you: if you stole or harmed it in any way, I would make sure you regret it."

"Don't worry. I don't plan to piss off anyone...yet." Then I immediately remembered I was talking to a noble as she looked rather appalled when I said that. But how she felt wasn't important right now.

Seeing there wasn't anything else to talk, I decided to take my leave, "Right, I guess I should go now." I began to walk out of the room before she suddenly spoke.

"Do you know where to go?", She asked with a slight hint of mockery.

I immediately stopped in my tracks, slightly annoyed by my stupidity, "...can I borrow one of your maps as well?"

"Certainly."

* * *

After getting a horse and a map, I began to ride along the trail for about half an hour and almost reached the bridge. But despite moving as fast as I could along the right path, there was still no sign of them. I started to worry if they had taken another way, but then I noticed something odd on the ground.

 ** _Wait a minute, what happened here?_**

I quickly stopped my horse and dismounted to take a closer look. Not only was the ground covered with deep impressions, but a small amount of fresh blood could also be seen scattered around the place. Without a doubt, there was a fierce battle between two groups and the Shepherds must've been one of them.

 ** _So there was a skirmish just a few moments ago. But that's strange. They must've dealt with the enemies before moving on. So where are the bodies?_**

Suddenly, I heard light footsteps coming from behind. Acting on instinct, I immediately pulled out my short blade and turned around. But it was too late: a sharp pain ran across my left shoulder as I stared helplessly into a pair of purple eyes. But fortunately, I managed to stab its neck when I was turning around, killing it instantly. I promptly examined my shoulder afterward, only to find a dagger sticking out and blood slowly dripping out from my shoulder.

 ** _Damn it! I'm still too slow for these things._**

But it was far from over. When I looked around the place again, two Risen appeared from the trees nearby and quickly ran towards me. I also caught a glimpse of a heavily armored Risen coming out from a fort across the bridge. Usually, this would mean nothing to me. But the pain grew stronger every time I tried to lift my left arm. So now, I could only rely on my short blade to defend myself.

 ** _Argh! To hell with it! I'm still going to kill you all!_**

I put on my helmet and, having no choice, removed the dagger from my shoulder to prevent more damages when I moved around. More blood started to leak out from the wound, creating a red trail as I walked around. Seeing this, I knew it wouldn't take long before I bled to death. So I charged recklessly towards those two Risen, lifting my reverse-gripped blade up as if I was about to attack from above. One of them noticed it and moved its sword upwards to block. But I was making a false attack: I immediately did a half-turn and swung my blade upwards, stabbing below its chin. The other Risen tried to cut my head with its ax but hit my shield instead. Feeling the force on my back, I immediately thrust my blade between its ribs. But much to my surprise, it just swung its ax to my face again. I dodged back as fast as possible, but the attack still landed at the side of my helmet, creating a long stretch mark on it. I staggered a bit before resuming to my fighting stance. But the Risen didn't let up and immediately let out a quite succession of attacks. Although I managed to parry or dodge all of its attacks, my arm was getting tired and the pain was getting unbearable. Lucky, its blindness aggression meant it wasn't defending itself properly. So I eventually found an opening and swiftly ended its life.

But there was still one more Risen to deal with. I checked where the Risen was, only to find it had already crossed the bridge and merely minutes away from me. So I picked up the ax from the ground and threw at it. But the ax simply bounced off its thick armor. After the Risen had realized what happened, it charged even faster with its lance pointing at my torso. As it moved closer and closer, I turned around to make it hit my shield. It worked perfectly, but the force almost pushed me down. Then I immediately kicked its knee as hard as I could, causing it to drop on one side. Before it could recover, I quickly stabbed its top of the head and ended this dreadful battle.

After all that fighting, I just dropped my blade and laid on the ground. There wasn't much strength in me as I was losing blood during the entire battle. But I knew I would die if I kept lying down. So I slowly stood up and looked for a safe spot to bandage myself up. The choice was obvious when I remembered there were forts nearby.

 _ **Good, I can stop the bleeding inside that fort. Say...where is my horse?**_

Apparently, they gave me a domestic horse so it wouldn't affect them as much if they lost it. And since the horse hadn't seen one battle in its entire life, it got scared when it saw one and ran back to safety, leaving me behind. Seeing this, there was only one thought in my mind.

 ** _I hate my life..._**


End file.
